Over the past 3 years, there has been no visible development in the availability and application of data and insights. Data tools and platforms are not yet being widely utilized, with data quality still cited as one of the greatest challenges. Collaboration with marketing-related teams also warrants more focus, in order for parties to learn from each other, and use marketing in a more effective and efficient manner. To sum matters up, there is work ahead for the sector in this regard.
No visible improvement in data availability
Most organizations (56%) state that data and insights are available and easy to find, of which 18% applies to everyone, and not just for specific departments. That figure seems high, but there has been no improvement over the past 3 years (2022: 58%, 2023: 59%) where this is concerned, despite the continued attention to and further development of data. Within one third (33%) of organizations, data and insights are still either limited or not available.
The use of BI/reporting platforms has also remained the same over the past 3 years, with only 24% of organizations using them, compared to 20% in 2022. These software tools actually contribute towards the availability of data, allowing organizations to analyze, visualize, and report data to generate insights for decision-making purposes.
In addition, the majority (86%) of industry representatives are still not utilizing a customer data platform (CDP*), and only 22% have a data warehouse**; tools that contribute towards making data and insights available within organizations. Learn more about tools for a central customer profile here.
* A CDP is a system that collects, stores, and manages data from various sources and channels to create a complete, integrated profile of each customer.
** A data warehouse is the central storage element of structured and unstructured data for analysis and reporting in organizations. Data is extracted, transformed, and loaded (ETL procedure); the data is subsequently loaded into a data warehouse system stored in tables with a fixed schedule.
Organizations looking to improve their data availability benefit from a solid first-party data strategy. This is because the data is directly derived from the customer, and as organizations are responsible for the collection, they can be confident that the data is accurate and up-to-date. In addition, a solid first-party data strategy helps to comply with strict privacy laws, such as GDPR, which require transparency and consent.
Limited use of data governance so far, despite low data quality
Data quality is viewed as one of the biggest challenges when it comes to data-driven marketing (with 24% forming the top 3 greatest challenges). This is in line with previous years. Remarkably, this has been noted to be the case for some time, and is an ongoing challenge.
At the same time, the DDMO 2024 reveals that organizations in the marketing sector have not started using data governance* more often (16% in 2022 compared to 14% in 2024), even though this actually contributes towards data quality. Moreover, data governance can also actually help ensure customer data privacy and mitigate the risk of data breaches. Data quality should be up to par before you both want to and are able to use the data, but it seems that organizations are not yet taking sufficient measures to improve data quality.
* Data governance is the definition of policies, procedures and responsibilities surrounding data, based on the following mainstays: people, processes and technology, with the aim of ensuring that data is properly managed, secure and qualified, which serves to increase data quality.
Limited use of data by marketing-related teams
The DDMO 2024 shows that there is no increase in the application of data and insights by marketing-related teams compared to 2 years ago (40% compared to 38% in 2022). This may be the result of limited data availability and quality, as we witnessed earlier. This limited application of data and insights is remarkable however, because there are many developments within the marketing sector with a continued focus on data application.
Omnichannel implementation relatively low
A total of 1 in 5 organizations (22%) have a complete oversight of the yield of marketing spends across all channels, with the majority of these (48%) only partially. They are able to calculate this for certain channels, thereby being able to exert control per channel – however, the real omnichannel insight is lacking as a result, which is a logical consequence of the lack of tooling in order to have a central customer profile.
As a result, the application of one-on-one personalized expressions on the owned channels, own mobile app, and own website is also still relatively low. The personalization of an own website is entirely one-on-one for 28% of organizations (for the app: 39%), 20% partly one-on-one and partly at segment level (for the app: 28%), and 22% indicate that they do this solely at segment level (for the app: 20%). The majority of organizations therefore apply personalization on the owned channels, but there is a large section who do not fully personalize one-on-one, which can be explained by the limited data knowledge and availability.
Opportunities in collaboration with marketing-related teams
The larger the organization, the less known about the extent to which data and insights are used by marketing-related teams (to illustrate: 17% of corporate organizations with 1000+ employees do not know the extent of utilization, descending to 4% of SME organizations with 11-250 employees). This knowledge though is not an end in itself – after all, it’s all about what how the data is utilized, and what that yields. However, it is a signal that there is room for improvement in terms of collaboration within larger organizations. Collaboration is seen as one of the biggest challenges by large companies and corporations (with upwards of 250 employees), with 1 in 4 organizations (25%) naming this in the top 3 challenges. Improved collaboration leads to higher work quality and higher productivity. Among those resources that encourage collaboration are budget and having suitable staff. We will take a closer look at this matter In the next deep dive on the importance of soft skills within the marketing sector.
In addition, the DDMO 2024 shows that it is precisely within these large organizations (with upwards of 250 employees) that marketing-related teams do make extensive or very extensive use of data and insights (51% compared to 33% of smaller organizations (with fewer than 250 employees). This is where the opportunities lie. The byte side of organizations (including roles such as analyst, developer, programmer, data scientist or engineer) are fully aware of all the (possible) applications of data, and also know where to source data and insights. However, they do not necessarily need to know what business purpose it serves, whereas people with a business profession (such as for instance marketers, product owners, marketing managers or coordinators) do. However, they are not as knowledgeable on data as they are on bytes. Once these professionals start collaborating, synergy is created, which in turn generates considerable added value for the company.
The DDMO 2024 also reveals that employees who are not responsible for marketing tooling and budgets also have significantly less knowledge of what marketing expenses yield (41% do not know at all, compared to 5% of those with shared/full responsibility). This is a shame, because the knowledge is often available, but not fully utilized. If this knowledge is shared, the people who are actually operating the marketing buttons can then also dedicate themselves to the most efficient marketing possible based on returns.
About the Data-Driven Marketing Survey (DDMO) 2024
The DDMO is an independent initiative of the DDMA trade association and the DDMA Committee on Data, Decision & Engagement. The annual survey maps out how the marketing sector in the Netherlands processes data and uses (customer) data, with the aim of providing insight and advice into how data-driven the marketing sector is and where opportunities and challenges lie.
Through three deep dives, the most important insights of the DDMO 2024 were further elaborated. The summary article, including full research justification, can be read here. The other 2 deep dive articles discuss the importance of soft skills within the marketing industry and the current application and challenges of AI.
The target group and sample of the DDMO 2024 consists of 520 Dutch people working within the marketing sector, recruited through the GfK panel, who answered positively to the question of whether they mainly perform marketing-related activities.
Do you have any questions or comments about this study? If so, please send an e-mail to info@ddma.nl.
Ronnie van Nieuwenhoven
Lydia de Haan
Mark van der Vlies
Monique Hartvelt-Zwanenburg
Nanda Appelman
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Vacature: lid commissie Data, Decisions & Engagement -DDE (op vrijwilligersbasis)
Data-Driven Marketing Research 2024 – Deep Dive 3: Apparent contradiction; no widespread adoption of AI within the marketing sector yet